Showing events on this day in years past that shaped history... just, not our history.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

March 18, 1848 – Violence Begets German National Assembly

1848 became the
Year of Revolution as nation after nation rose up, questioning their
feudal leaders and calling for great populist reforms. The end of
the first era of the Industrial Revolution had created a huge body in
the Working Class. New ideas such as Nationalism and Socialism
expanded, filling the population with demands from their traditional
rulers. Revolution began in France, where it toppled King Louis
Philippe, and spread throughout Europe as well as Latin America, but
nowhere had as dramatic of a change as in Germany.

The German peoples
had been largely disunited for as long as history recorded. Romans
pitted tribes against one another to maintain vague control, but the
people's strength was proven as Goths and Visigoths overran Rome.
Otto I carved out the Holy Roman Empire, a confederation that
included the German-speaking people as well as other groups. During
his conquests of Europe, Napoleon dissolved the antiquated HRE and
installed a new system with the Confederation of the Rhine that laid
the groundwork for a true German nation. After Napoleon's defeat,
the Congress of Vienna created a looser Federal Confederation,
presided over by the Austrian emperor. It held a Federal Assembly in
Frankfurt, which met weekly and was used to block attempts at
liberalizing.

In 1848, Germans
charged by nationalism cried for unity. Taxes and censorship spurred
the people forward, and cities began to see demonstrations. Nobles,
fearful that they might lose everything as Louis Philippe had,
quickly bowed to liberal demands, such as freedom of the press,
elections, and the right of arms for the people. Most anticipated
the liberalism to be temporary and simply wished to ride out the
storm.

One of the largest
uprisings took place in Berlin, the capital of Prussia, Germany's
most powerful nation. The army had initially been used in an attempt
to scare the people from the streets. However, the people continued
to return to protest, even facing oncoming fire from the army that
killed hundreds. Rather than fleeing, the people became more
aggressive, fighting back and establishing barricades. King
Frederick Wilhelm IV was shocked that his people acted out and
immediately agreed to all of their demands, calling for a new
National Assembly to be elected through universal male suffrage.

Among
those elected was Professor Jacob Grimm. He and his brother,
Wilhelm, had become famous after compiling their collection of German
folktales, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (“Children's
and Household Tales”). The two became professors at the University
of Göttingen in 1830 but were forced to leave when they refused to
give loyalty oaths to King Ernest Augustus after he had eliminated
Hanover's constitution in 1837. Their fame preceded them, however,
and the brothers were invited by Frederick Wilhelm to professorships
at the University of Berlin. They were also awarded scholarships
from the Academy of Science to continue their studies, Wilhelm in
mythology and Jacob in philology, together working to create the
first German dictionary.

As Jacob left for
the Assembly, Wilhelm sent along with him a special annotated edition
of their fairy tales. Each story was given a description of its
relation to the important work of unifying Germany. Jacob
appreciated the gift, and its significance showed how cohesive and
effective story is to the human spirit. As he came into the
Assembly, Jacob made speeches referencing the stories, often reading
them in entirety and showing their perspective on the situation. He
made himself into a sort of “whip” for the Assembly, refusing to
allow factional ideals to halt any progress.

Jacob's main point
to force unification was the Schleswig War. On the southern end of
Jutland, a great many Germans lived under the rule of the Danish
king. In March of 1848, like the rest of Europe, the Germans began
demonstrations to achieve a German government. The Danish king sent
7,000 troops to quell the uprising, and the Prussians reacted by
sending troops of their own. Jacob did not rest at having Prussia
take up so much responsibility alone and drafted a bill calling for
soldiers from every corner of Germany. The Assembly had no clear
legal authority to do so, but the positive response from the people
forced the nobility to comply. A navy followed on June 14, which
would end Danish blockades of German harbors. By the end of June, a
massive German force fully garrisoned Schleswig. International
pressure called for an end to the war, which was signed at the Treaty
of Berlin with the National Assembly approving the annexation of
Schleswig into a unified German state with Frederick Wilhelm as
Kaiser.

The
Assembly's next action was to appease the “Großdeutsche”
(Greater German faction), which wished to include Austria. At times,
they refused to cooperate with “Kleindeutsche”
(Lesser Germany), but Jacob Grimm was able to convince them to be
patient and work in steps, as in “The Tailor in Heaven,” who is
cast out of paradise because he is not yet ready. In Austria,
similar protests had caused the Emperor Ferdinand to abdicate, giving
the throne to his nephew Franz Joseph, who immediately proclaimed
Austria was indivisible. Jacob contributed to continuing the German
revolution there until the rest of Europe became distracted by the
Crimean War. In the Austro-German War, the Empire shattered into
numerous ethnic states, destabilizing the Balkans but establishing
Germany as the great new Central European power.

Through
the nineteenth century, Germany would join the new balance of power
in Europe and participate in colonial wars in Africa and the Pacific.
In the twentieth century, governments worked to suppress uprisings
at home and overseas in the next great political movement: socialism.

--

In reality, the German National
Assembly failed to follow through on the revolution. Grimm, despite
his fervent nationalism, did not make much of a show at the Assembly,
which disintegrated into factional infighting. After the failure of
the First Schleswig War and Frederick Wilhelm refusing the crown
(later saying he did not want to receive it “from the gutter”),
the movement had clearly fallen out of favor. Germany would not be
unified until military successes in the Austro-Prussian War and
Franco-Prussian War two decades later.